This is barely worth mentioning but yesterday I had to have surgery on my left ring finger to get out a couple of thorns from a palm tree. Didn't even know they were in the finger until 3 weeks had passed. I figured the hand doctor would just take it out in the office.....but noooooooo! I had to go through all the crap you need to do for surgery.

Had it done at a surgery center. I asked not to be sedated but I lost that argument. Reason being, they had to put a tourniquet on my arm to numb it and that is quite painful.

So, what did I get? A cocktail of Fentanyl and Versed. Not sure if the Fentanyl worked but I did feel a bit drowsy. A big waste of a day. And no, it wouldn't have worked itself out like I thought. My finger had swollen up fairly large with it inside. Now they are out and gone. 2 small thorns about 1/8" in length. Dr. gave me a script for Ultram but I told them to shred it instead. The pharmacy wouldn't fill it anyway so why try?

They didn't even ask about my Suboxone either. And the attending nurse never heard of it. Whatever, I'm home and glad it's over.

Sorry it wasn't much of a story. My only surprise was the lack of knowledge about Suboxone.

Rule I didn't even know palm trees had thorns lol! Shows how much I know, but then again u don't see any palm trees in East Tennessee so that could be why.

I'm glad ur through the experience and bk to normal again. Who would've thought two little thorns would require surgery. My fiancé was sawing a tree down for my dad and pulled off a poison ivy vine off the tree with his bare hands! He's got poison ivy everywhere right now.

My sweet friend. Don't say it's not even worth mentioning. It is,in fact, interesting that one would never think you had to go through all that medication for what you had. However, it sounds better than that tourniquet thing. Now that sounds like a painful and uncomfortable way to numb your finger.

Again, Suboxone is not heard of. It's funny how some doctors say right away "Oh, O.K. no problem we will manage your pain accordingly" and then you hear them tell the nurses and attending PA.s. "She is on Suboxone, she needs additionnal pain meds" But then on the other hand some will say "What is that?" So, your post helps us to see, once again, that our battle for proper pain management in the event of a sudden need for it, is not over. I wish there was a way to bring more awareness.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. This was a classic case of "No good deed goes unpunished". I offered to help a neighbor fix an irrigation leak but had to trim back the low hanging palm branches to get to it. Obviously, I had never done that before and with some palm trees they have very sharp long thorns about a foot long right at the base of a new frond. Got poked a bloody mess doing it. Next time I'll wear protective gear to the hilt. Here in the West we have a lot of different palm trees. Some grow tall and others are small to medium height. I don't think the tall ones have thorns but I'll never go up to find out!

One would think a surgery center would know about Suboxone. My nurse knew nothing of it and asked me to explain what it was for. I didn't bother to ask them knowing myself how to manage my pain w/o opiates.

How long has Suboxone been on the market for addiction? Since about 2008 or so? Not sure, but it has been around a long time. Not one person asked about it after filling out the form of what medications I take.

One thing I failed to mention was that after the surgery my blood pressure was very high. (205/102) IMO, it was the swing effect of putting Fentanyl in a person who's on Buprenorphine. What else could it have been? I didn't bother trying to explain the swing effect to a medical professional who knew nothing of Buprenorphine anyway. She would just give me those deer in the headlights look. My BP went down once I got home and relaxed a bit. Perfectly normal now but I'll bring it up to my GP the next time I'm in for routine appointment.

My BP has always been on the borderline of high anyway. Maybe it is time to get on a medication for it. Normal for me is 145/82. Used to take a drug for it when I was still chewing Nicorette gum obsessively but it went down after quitting that.

So much information for two small thorns in a finger!

P.S. My hand surgeon said he removes a lot of slivers and thorns in patients so I didn't feel too idiotic.

Hey Rule, I have an idea for you that comes from my dealing with borderline high BP too. High for me is > 130/90. I can sometimes tell that a headache is coming from my high blood pressure. Sometimes my BP feels like it's going up at the end of a long tiring day. I can feel the pounding in my ears. So my doctor prescribes me clonidine. Now, we know that medication is great for the side effects of buprenorphine withdrawals. Well, one of the reasons is because our BP tends to spike when we are in withdrawals

I've also read an article that is showing that a combination of buprenorphine and clonidine help make buprenorphine more effective and even last longer. That's why I think that you could ask your ask your doc to prescribe it for you. It is beneficial in a few different ways. Just an idea.

Hi Rule That's a pretty good spike in your blood pressure. Speaking of which, I had to get a blood pressure monitor because as of recently every time I go to my Suboxone Dr, it's through the roof. This has been going on for a few months now so I too thought it was time to get back on high blood pressure medication. Have been off blood pressure pills for about 6 years now after some weight loss. Anyway when I take it here at the house, my blood pressure numbers are pretty as a picture. Go figure? Well take care by friend and happy holidays to you and yours. Your forum friend, Angie

Mines been running high too! Last few months it's been higher each time. This last month was 100/187 I think. Before that it was something like 94/182.... so it's just inching up higher and higher. My mom, dad and brother (he's 47) have all been on bp medication for a long time now. My sub doctor wants me to see the general practitioner in our clinic but I do NOT want to have to take bp medicine because I fear it'll just make me feel draggy and tired all the time. I can't handle feeling so tired, that's one thing that appealed to me about opiates. I don't know what to do honestly. My fiancé has a bp machine here at home but I rarely check mine.

I go bk to the doctor this week and I'm afraid it'll be even higher. I didn't know u could ever physically tell that ur bp was high, I need to learn the symptoms.

I've noticed lately that my ears burn like crazy and that may be anxiety or something, I don't know but I wondered if it may be from blood pressure since they've been saying it's a bit high. I've wondered if there were symptoms and I didn't wanna google it or ask before because I get scared easily over health stuff since I'm getting older. And I think I got those numbers wrong about my bp, I'm pretty clueless about bp, all I know is one number was like 93 one month then 95 then last month around 100. I have no clue if it was top or bottom.... I really need to stop being so clueless about it and listen and learn, I've been purposely ignoring it.

Jenn, I think you do have it upside down. The larger number is always on top. The way I remember it is the Diastolic starts with D for down. Both are important to keep low regardless.

I do have a BP monitor and it holds the memory of 14 measures. I'll write them all down next time I see my doctor.

What happened was a couple of things. If I wasn't taking meds then it would have probably been okay. But I cheated when they say no food or drink that day. At noon I drank my usual two large cups of coffee and figured they weren't putting me out so I just won't tell them. Not good. For me to lie is a bad thing and I avoid it almost completely. And then thinking about the so called swing effect from taking Fentanyl and Suboxone was incorrect. It was the Versed which is a benzo. It calms you down for surgery but wears off really fast. So what goes down more than normal will go up more than normal. (swing effect) In other words I was not a good patient and should not have drank the coffee. It won't happen again and I hope to never have surgery ever again too. There is even more to the story but I'll skip that.

Funny how a little thorn surgery on my finger turned into such a long thread. It's good. We need more discussions around here.

Hey thanks Rule for explaining that swing effect a little more. There are so many things to take into consideration when having surgery or surgical procedures and as addicts, we are bad about taking things into our own hands. Or disregarding rules, like no food or drink before procedures. It's a wonder we are still doing as well as we are. But then again, we are all spared for some reason or another.... Jenn, please keep check of that blood pressure 120 over 80 is perfect. You and I both live in the South and our diet plays a huge role in our health. Heart disease and high blood pressure run rapid in the South. And also from one family member to the next. Keep a check on it friend. I hope everyone is having a nice week. Your forum friend, Angie

Ur right Angie, my whole family is on bp medicine and I've always kinda expected it would happen to me too but I'm in denial about it, my doctor is finally going to force me to see the gp. I guess that bottom number is the number that's giving me problems. It's running up to 100 lately. I do not want to take bp medication being from the south will definitely change ur eating habits. Gravy and biscuits with greasy tenderloin..... that's just one of my many favorites and my mother cooks it all the time.

Rule ur right, I also enjoy a thread we can all relate to and hear each other's experiences, I've missed that!

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